Mirage Dragonscale
Mirage is a mercenary currently employed by Whitelight. Despite only being ranked corporal, she often directly sees to the protection of Commander Krome, with her paragon being vital in engagements against Madness or even the Valkyrie. Some soldiers in Whitelight believe that Mirage has a second paragon, as her ability to perform Combined Volition Techniques with her allies is arguably unmatched by any other human on Earth. Background Mirage's life as a soldier began in the New Halcyons, a private military assembled by Alpha Sparrow, dedicated to protecting civilian settlements against monster attacks in the former western United States. She served as an enlisted soldier on defense tours for a little over a year, often in Sparrow's platoon when he went to establish contact with a new settlement. It was on one of these tours where Mirage encountered Madness and prevented Sparrow's assasination at his hands. Following this, she was promoted to an SKT Sentinel directly tasked with Sparrow's protection. Shortly afterwards, Madness and Blackout mercenaries infiltrated Halcyon headquarters and attacked again, killing Sparrow and all of his Sentinels except for Mirage. He left his weapon at the scene for her, a cobalt blue magnum pistol before vanishing. Mirage could only assume it was supposed to be a reminder not to stand in Madness' way. After escaping Halcyon HQ, Mirage found new allies during a skirmish in a once Halcyon-controlled town. Led by Lucreas Krome, they were known as Whitelight, and as enemies of Blackout at the very least, she sided with them. She soon came to learn that even though Madness wasn't part of Blackout, her conflict with him would still persist as Lucreas is Madness' brother. Crimson Shield Mirage's callsign, "Crimson", is derived from her spectacular paragon, an iridescent red projected spirit barrier that nullifies all magical attacks that pass through it. Unlike other similar protection spells, Mirage's barrier also protects against non-projectile or instantaneous spells such as telekinesis. So long as she is between the caster and the target, no magical connections can be made. Even spells that would be cast from the sky would be ineffective, as the caster would be unable to properly aim or guide the spell to a target behind Mirage's barrier. Combined Volition Techniques Mirage's sympathy for others is the basis for what some call her second paragon, her talent for performing Combined Volition Techniques, the ability to fuse spells with another caster. Such feats require both casters to have deep interpersonal understanding of each others' thought processes and sometimes intricate study of their paragon emblems. Mirage has been known to quickly form this kind of understanding with allies within weeks, as opposed to several years to an entire lifetime typically. Through learning a person's desires and ambitions, she believes she simply has a talent for forming these bonds, as opposed to having a second paragon. Regardless, her ability to cast CVTs with ease make her a more formidable defense than with Crimson Shield alone, as combining it with other spells often result in an ability than cancels all magic in its path, or even temporarily silences targets, in addition to its offensive properties or other effects. Mirage and Lucreas have been known to combine their paragons to silence and disorient entire groups of enemies. Category:Characters